Sage Cancer Care

I will be co-hosting a free plant-based cooking tutorial/workshop next week on Friday August 21st at 5:30pm via Zoom. We will be preparing a Lentil Salad that comes from our Meal Prepping for Lunches-On-The-Go Series geared towards people healing from cancer or in survivorship/thrivership (but is applicable for anyone else too!). This class has typically been taught in person but has been modified for an online platform.

The class is free and all you have to do to register is send an email of interest to [email protected]! The class is also open to others, so you are welcome to forward this post. Since we will not be meeting in person, it is recommended that you pick up the ingredients ahead of time so you can cook along, although this is not required.

Medicinal mushrooms are a potent medicine that we recommend to many patients. These include mushrooms such as Lingzhi (Ganoderma lucidum), Chaga (Inonotus obliquus), Lion’s mane (Hericium erinaceus), Turkey Tail (Trametes of Coriolus versicolor), Shiitake (Lentinula edodes), Maitake or Hen-of-the-Wood (Grifola frondosa), and more! These medicinal mushrooms have many anti-cancer actions including inhibition of many cancer promoting molecular pathways and boosting the immune system to help find and eliminate cancer cells.
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A randomized placebo-controlled study published a few years ago wanted to assess the use of Turkey Tail (Trametes of Coriolus versicolor) in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma that were not good candidates for conventional therapy or had exhausted their conventional options. Researchers were interested in assessing the impact of Turkey Tail mushrooms on time until disease progression while on therapy, progression free survival, overall survival, quality of life, and toxicity. Treatment was given until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity occurred which was 5.9 weeks for the placebo group and 12.1 weeks for the mushroom group. Unfortunately, there was no difference in time to progression between the mushroom and placebo group. There was, however, a trend towards improvement in over-all and progression-free survival in the treatment arm. The most impressing result from this study was that there was significant improvements in quality of life in the mushrooms group, with subjects reporting better physical, emotional, cognitive and social functioning.
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This study helps solidify the role of medicinal mushrooms, specifically Coriolus versicolor, in cancer care!
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DOI: 10.1089/acm.2016.0136
DOI: 10.1016/j.fct.2018.04.038
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One of the awesome things about vegetables (besides the fact that they are delicious) is that many of them have anti-cancer properties. One of these amazing vegetables is ***drum roll please***….Broccoli!! (And not just broccoli but all brassicas including kale, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, and more!)
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Broccoli contains multiple cancer-fighting nutrients and a group of them was just highlighted in a research paper published just last month: Molecular Mechanisms of the Anti-Cancer Effects of Isothiocyanates from Cruciferous Vegetables in Bladder Cancer. Now I know you are probably thinking “Isothio-whhhat??” But don’t worry, we’ll give you the highlights. Bladder cancer can be difficult to treat and the conventional treatment options are often very toxic so anything we can find from the natural world to help fight cancer and provide amazing nutrition for the rest of the body is a total win! Isothiocyanates include compounds such as Allyl, Benzyl, and Phenethyl Isothiocyanates and Sulforaphane.
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These Isothiocyanates are so amazing because they:
- Suppress pathways involved in cellular growth
- Promote healthy cell death
- Decrease inflammation
- Decrease cellular migration (and potential metastasis)
- Decrease blood vessel growth into the tumor
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So moral of the story…eat your broccoli!
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doi:10.3390/molecules25030575
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